Gloria
by BonneyQ
Summary: -Spoilers from chapter 322- Just a rewrite of the amazing chapter, featuring Gray and Juvia, of course..


**AN:** Starts with 321, but then we have spoilers from 322. Sorry about the mistakes. I wrote it fast.

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**Gloria**

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A hand on her shoulder.

She knew who it belonged to, she knew that he was trying to somewhat comfort her, telling that it was alright in his own way.

The blunette girl put her own hand above his, communicating that she was there, that she got the message. They were together ant that what mattered, if they lost and if they won, they were together. She had a small smile on her lips, her heart was beating faster already because of the fight, but it was even faster when he wrapped his hand around hers.

She couldn't remember when Gray had held her so gently. Of course, she had been saved by him when Ultear tried to kill her –she couldn't really remember, it was a foggy memory–, he had hold her firmly in his arms as far as she could remember. Maybe it was a dream? She never had a chance to ask. And was also the person who had saved her when Acnologia attacked. He literally put her over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes and ran with her.

But he never held her like that. He never comforted her like that. He never showed his care like that.

Juvia was looking down, unable to stare to her loved one at the moment, so many feelings rushing inside of her, but he tightened his grip on her hand.

"Their weakness is their teamwork." He said and Juvia lifted her head a tiny bit. "If it's us… We can unite to gain even more power."

"Gray-sama…" When she finally looked up to him and all she could see was determination in his eyes.

"We'll defeat them with our combined magic!" His eyes, so powerful, so full of pride and determination. His eyes, the eyes of the man she fell in love with. _That _was her Gray-sama. She offered him a smile and she squeezed his hand.

"Yes!" She said with all her determination. Gray helped her up and offered a smile, saying that everything was going to be okay. And she believed in him. She was always going to believe in him as long as her heart beat.

Lyon and Chelia were looking at them, still panting hard, it wasn't an easy fight for neither of the couples, but now, the Fairy Tail team had a new motivation and the white haired man and the pinkette were looking at them with curiosity in their eyes.

Once Gray had helped her up, they were only a few inches away from each other. Their eyes met and still smiling, Juvia asked. "Let's do this?"

"Hell yeah." Gray nodded, both looking into each other eyes. And as planned, their joint hands started to glow and their power melted together. Juvia looked down to their locked hands and then to Gray, who was already staring to their opponents. They stepped away from each other, hands never unlocked and as close as they could, but the magic they were gathering was overwhelmed.

"Woooooah!" Gray groaned.

"Aahhh!" Juvia said, feeling Gray's magic within her. So strong, such a beautiful feeling that of being in unison with someone else. She had felt a tiny bit of it when she and Lucy had done it, but it was nothing compared to what she was feeling then.

Gray was so much stronger, she was so much stronger than before. They had to win, they had to make the Fairy Tail name shine above it all. They had to show everyone that they were strong and that their family was together, no matter what.

Juvia saw Lyon say something, but she couldn't hear, her mind focusing on giving Gray as much power as he was giving her, she was trying to concentrate so they could balance. But the blunette did notice Chelia's eyes, she was smiling kindly and her eyes were soft for a moment.

Once again, the feeling were overbearing and Juvia felt the urge to attack, and so did Gray, because the next thing she knew, Gray was telling her to go and she was yelling some kind of agreement.

Lyon was shaking Chelia, trying to make her snap out of her mind, but she didn't really 'wake up' until Gray and Juvia were already too close.

Juvia knew what to do, she was going to use her Water Nebula and she knew that Gray was going to use his Ice Geyser. She just knew. She also knew that it was the best way to do attack the Lamia Scale mages.

So they did.

First, the water was released looking like a whirlpool and almost to the second, Gray released his own attack. It was a beautiful sight, first the limpid water shining around them and forward, just to be frozen and shaped like thorns around the water.

Their unison attack was successful, sending Lyon and Chelia flying, quite literally.

They had won.

Juvia was still looking to what their combined magic had done, what their special magic had done that she missed the look Gray gave to her. If she had looked to him, she would've seen pride and something else in his eyes. Realization? A different kind of determination? And he was smiling to her in a way he hadn't yet. Like he was proud of her, like he was fine with a discovery he had made.

Then, finally, when the opponents were gone and the fight was over, Juvia finally looked towards him, offering him a smile while he smirked, hands still together as they internally enjoyd their victory.

After a moment, Gray realized that their hands were still together and a jint of pink flooded to his cheeks as he asked: "When will you let go of my hand?"

It wasn't like he didn't enjoy it, he did, but he didn't like when it was for such long amount of time. Or even with all the Lachrymas around them. Juvia, being Juvia, hugged his arm and said, in a very corny voice.

"Never." And she meant it.

"You're scary!" Gray said, his hair arising like a cats, but didn't actually put her away. From afar, they could hear the crowd cheering and he sighed. "Do as you wish." He mumbled.

Juvia was about to ask what that meant, when Gray suddenly felt really drained. If he wasn't being held by Juvia, he would've probably had fell.

"Gray-sama?" The blunette held him in place, but she was concerned. "Are you…?"

"I'm fine." Gray said stubbornly. "My magic is a little low right now."

"Oh." Juvia said and helped him put an arm around her shoulder. "Juvia will help you, then."

"I don't…"

"You fought Rufus, Gray-sama." She said, gently. "Juvia saw it, it was amazing. And then fighting Lyon-sama and Chelia? It's okay to be a little drained."

"You hadn't easy either. We all saw Chelia fighting, she's strong and we just used a..."

"Yes, but Juvia can lend you a little bit of strength. Please?" He was about to protest, but a mark appeared on the sky.

_Sabertooth._

And it was a challenge. It was a clear "Come and get me".

"We have to go there." Gray said, gritted teeth and Juvia nodded.

"Yes." She understood that they had to go. The blunette put the other arm on Gray's back. "Let's go, Gray-sama."

He nodded as they walked towards the sign.

Juvia was slightly worried. They were all low in magic, they have been in some nasty fights these past few hours, but her worried were gone once she saw the rest of her team coming from different directions.

Once they saw who the challenger was, it didn't make their pace go slower. If anything, they were more determinate than ever.

"What a spectacle." The Dragon Slayer said. Gray unwrapped his arm from Juvia's shoulders, for that, he had to stand on his own feet, Just like she thought he would. "I looked up at all of you 7 years ago." Sting said smugly.

"Stop blabbering." Gajeel said, not in the mood to silly talk, Juvia could tell. "This is the last fight."

"We'll do it one versus one. Who do you prefer?" Gray asked by Juvia's side and she knew that he wanted to be the one picked.

"You can attack me all together, since you're wounded." Sting opened his arms, as if it was an invitation and that made Juvia mad.

"You shouldn't underestimate Fairy Tail." She said between gritted teeth.

The blond man opened his eyes and stared at Juvia. "Oh, no way. I respect you." He said and Juvia couldn't decide if he was mocking or saying it seriously. "That's why I'll defeat you all together!" Okay, serious, then. "I'll show you Lecter my power."

Laxus sighed. "I don't know what are you talking about, but are you being serious?" He said, pretty much what was in everyone's head.

"Fine." Erza said and Juvia glanced towards quickly and she seem to had been quite beaten. "If that's your decision. "We'll be your opponents. Sting."

"That's good." Sting said and suddenly the mood was darker, the air was heavier. "I'll show you my power now that I awakened." His body started to glow, his magic flowing like crazy. He was trying to scare The five member of Fairy Tail that were standing right in front of him. He smirked and then laughed. "Hehe." But stopped as soon as he stared to his opponents.

They never backed an inch. They never faltered his stand. The determination never left their eyes. All of they were hurt, all of them had fought the most powerful men and women of the magic world, all of them had won. All of them were beat up.

But neither would back down.

Sting could see that. They were there to fight until there weren't no one else standing. They were ready to have him if he attacked. They didn't care if their magic was supposed to be low. All Sting could see was the way they were not afraid; their chins were up.

Not backing down.

His expression turned to one of disbelief, and Juvia could only guess why. It made sense that other people would be surprised with their stand, but not her, not anymore. Because Fairy Tail always stood up, no matter how many timed they were hit, they would always get up and fight back.

Sting stepped towards them and none of the mages moved. Sting was a Dragon Slayer, sure. But they were Fairy Tail and together, they had nothing to fear.

But something was wrong with the Sabertooth mage. He was hesitating; he was sweating and was no longer feeling cocky. And if Juvia had to guess, he was shaking. After two steps, Sting fell to his knees, unable to continue.

"I can't win." He said, barely a whisper, but with all the Lachrymas around them, the audience could. "I surrender."

After a moment of shock, the crowd who was watching the games started to cheer. Fairy Tail had won. Then everyone heard: "It's settled. The winner of Daimatou Enbu is… Fairy Tail!"

The cheer got louder and Juvia's first instinct was to look to her left, to her Gray-sama, only to find him looking right at her with that smile she loved.

Fairy Tail had won.

After all the humiliation, after all the pain, after all the mess, they had won!

Before she could help herself, Juvia jumped to hug Gray, who just let out a 'tsc' in answer, letting her do whatever she wanted at that moment. They had just won, it was a commemorative hug.

While Erza stepped forward and started talking to Sting, and Gajeel snickered, looking to the couple.

"Get a room." The Dragon slayer said with a smirk and Even Laxus looked amused.

"Shut up!" Gray said and pushed Juvia away gently. Too much had happened that day.

"Er-chan!" They all heard and turned to see the Cat-woman, friend of Erza holding a cat, an Exceed to be precise. Once Sting saw him, he ran towards the now awoken cat and they hugged each other while crying.

It was a moment of so much raw emotion. That even though they were enemies not minutes before, no words were spoken as the two friends got reunited.

Gray looked back, where Juvia was and saw her looking to the reunion, then her gaze shifted to his own eyes and she smiled.

He knew that he couldn't deny that he had something going on with her, he couldn't deny that their magic together was so strong not because a nakama feeling. But for the moment, he saw in her eyes that she would still be Juvia and she would be prepared to wait until he was fully ready.

So far, that day wasn't bad. They had won in one front. The other had to win at the other front of the battle. Only then, they could reach full glory.

**#**

**AN:** Yeah, just HAD to. I romanced it a little bit and added a few 'hidden' scenes. But it is true that Juvia hugged Gray. We can see it in the page that Erza goes to talk to Sting, second panel. :D

Gray looking at her after beating Chelia while she did not look at him (reverse roles there) and when Sting surrendered, they looked at each other. May I have the pleasure to say? **CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANON**!

I hope you liked it. And who else had many feels with this chapter? *_* My heart almost stopped a few times!


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